What wind power means to farmers, landowners & councillors

We’re just back from a whirlwind series of roadshows in Devon and Cornwall, all focused around our wind turbine solutions.

Having met sixty or so people over the last two days, including many farmers, landowners and councillors, it’s evident that they see wind as not only financially viable and appealing, but also as a means towards increased energy security.

The Feed-In Tariff has undoubtedly had an impact among the rural community. Those whom we met with large land portfolios, or of an older generation, felt that the FITs scheme presented significant revenue generation potential that even outweighed other, more traditional investments. As one farmer put it, “it’s a better option than my pension.”

But alongside financial motivations, many see wind as a valuable way to secure a reliable and green electricity supply to run their domestic homes, farm operations and industrial works, as well to safeguard their businesses and homes against potential blackout periods, which could result from increased demand on the grid at a time when some of country’s ageing power plants are starting to be phased out.

Cornwall and Devon rank among the most popular tourist destinations in the UK – and many people visit the counties to enjoy its outstanding views and landscapes, and explore their areas of outstanding natural beauty. Those who live and work in the counties are acutely aware of the challenges of protecting and safeguarding the landscape, while exploring ways to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels and generate clean energy to power their farms and homes.

Understanding how best to work with planners and engage their local communities go hand-in-hand, and it’s clear that those looking at wind solutions need guidance. One land manager summed up the challenge well in our Q&A session at Lostwithiel: “Putting in wind turbines is not an impossible hurdle for planners to overcome, but it does mean an increased level of work and better understanding of the current planning regulations.”

We returned to this subject on many occasions at our workshops. And fortunately, Myriad’s Henrietta Hopkins was able to provide a presentation discussing the current planning requirements and some of the surveys and work that needs to go into applications. The overall message was simple: bring in the experts. Many people had stories of needing surveys that delayed planning applications whereas Henrietta described how, by going through Myriad CEG, the process could be shortened by identifying and providing key information up front.

Other topics keenly debated by our audiences included the impact of Bat Surveys – as this requires quite detailed analysis, we’ll be dealing with this on the Blog soon – and impact of local elections. Many recognised that a planning committee’s decision could be swayed by local opinion driven by the impending local elections.

All planning applications have to be made upon objective data. However, there is an element that includes visual impact, which is subjective. To help engage councillors and local communities, we recommend open and transparent discussion about the benefits, and to include photomontages that illustrate how turbines will impact on the landscape. In our experience, this encourages debate to get involved and typically garners support for our clients’ proposals.

On this subject, the final word goes to a farmer from our Honiton workshop, who commented: “The combination of reseller and manufacture viewpoints has given me a much more thorough understanding of the projects.

“It was also really informative listening to Henrietta talk about planning issues that people had faced in the past and how we can learn from them. Here in the south west, we’re geared up for wind and we’re ready to make it happen.”